The 11th CSCAP General Conference will be held in on 14 and 15 December 2017 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The theme of the conference will be: Towards a peaceful transformation of regional order in the Asia Pacific.

The General Conference will follow the 48th CSCAP Steering Committee Meeting to be held on 13 December.

The US presidential election comes at a pivotal moment for the Asia Pacific region. Will the next president continue fostering economic and defense ties or will the region experience a new kind of foreign policy?

Julie Bishop has indicated that her Department of Foreign ­Affairs is looking at various scenarios for the outcome of the US elections tomorrow. She made it plain that a Donald Trump presidency would have to be per­suaded to maintain a US presence in the Asia-Pacific region. “It will be up to our region, including Australia, to persuade a Trump administration to focus on the Asia-Pacific,” she said.
In my view, Australia should be concerned, very concerned, about a Trump victory. And here’s why.